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How to Make Your Own Trivia Board Game

Trivia games are a good form of entertainment.
question mark image by Paul Moore from Fotolia.com

Trivia board games can provide hours of entertainment for any group. There are many trivia board games already available, covering subjects from Major League Baseball to the "Star Wars" franchise. But after you have played a game many times and have seen the answers to all of the questions, it's easy to lose interest. If you haven't found the game out there that's perfect for you, or if you're bored with existing games, create your own personalized trivia board game.

Bend a 2-by-2 foot cardboard square in half, and make a straight crease in the middle of the board so that it folds up like a board game.

Spread a thin layer of craft glue over the surface of the cardboard square. Press the cardboard square, glue-side down, firmly onto a piece of poster board. Cut away the excess poster board around the cardboard square and reserve it for later use. Turn the cardboard square over with the poster board up. Press out any air bubbles under the poster and smooth out any folds. Fold the cardboard square again along the fold you made in the previous step, creating a crease in the poster.

Draw the design for your game board on the poster using a pencil. Create a path comprised of spaces or blocks that the players can jump or move to after rolling a pair of dice. Draw a long, winding, snake-shaped trail on top of the poster and mark off spaces inside (like the game Candy Land), or make the spaces around the outside of the board (like a Monopoly game). The design is your choice. Be sure to include a 'Start' space and a 'Finish' space.

Trace the game board picture with markers. Color the squares of the board as well. You can color-code the spaces to correspond with different categories of trivia questions (i.e. blue = sports questions, etc.) or you can randomly color the squares. Draw whatever decorations you desire onto the board.

Cut the remaining poster pieces reserved from step 2 into 2-by-2 inch squares. Write your trivia questions on these cards, with questions on one side and answers on the other side. Your questions can be about any topic you desire. You may want to use a set of encyclopedias or Internet resources to confirm your answers and occasionally make new questions.

Things You'll Need:

  • Square of cardboard, 2 by 2 feet
  • Container of craft glue
  • Poster board, any color
  • Scissors
  • Pencil
  • Ruler
  • Package of markers, 8-count or more

Tip

To play your trivia game, you will need a pair of dice and some small objects to act as game pieces for each player. Use anything from small, colored balls of clay to bottle caps. The objects should not be identical so that players can differentiate their pieces from others.

Players should take turns rolling the dice and moving the corresponding number of squares. Upon landing on a square, the player must answer a trivia question. If the question is answered correctly, the player rolls again. If the player misses the question, then the next player rolls until he misses. The player who reaches the end first wins.

As a special twist on this game, you can make the trivia questions family-and-friend focused. This means that the questions can relate to personal matters within the family. You can ask, "What is Aunt Carol's favorite food?" or "What did your sister wear to her high school prom?" This game would test family members' knowledge of each other. This is good for family reunions and outings with friends.

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